and for the last five years obama did talk about a grand bargain. the republicans tried to meet him halfway. i think the shutdown changed everything. it was such a debacle for the republican party. you know, they had embraced this sort of sabotage approach to nongovernance. i think the assumption was they weren't going to do that again in january. but what they're going to do, what they're going to agree to do, barely there. this mini thing that will get us a few extra months. it's sad this is sort of the state of, quote, budget negotiations. but as obama and democrats have found, when you're negotiating with people who aren't particularly persuadable on anything, you're lucky if you can use sort of a up and down-aid like that. >> kiki, just on the politics of that, i think eric makes a great point. if i'm john boehner and i'm anybody, frankly in the leadership in the republican party, part of my concern is, we've got to have something that i know we are not going to shut the government down over. >> that's right. >> because they know they just cann